Australia franchise café firm reveals UK expansion plans

Helen Gilbert
· 14 December, 2015

Jamaica Blue, the coffee chain, is to open four new stores next year

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Jamaica Blue plans to open four new cafés in ‘affluent’ areas of the UK in 2016.

The premium café franchise, which unveiled its first UK premises in Cambridge 12 months ago and makes a range of baked goods including scones, savoury tarts, muffins, pastries, assorted cakes and loaves, will start to open the new casual dining outlets from March next year.

Each store will be around 2,000sq ft and seat approximately 100 customers.

Owned by Foodco, the Jamaica Blue franchise is one of Australia’s most successful franchise companies with 100 cafés across Australia, New Zealand, Dubai and China.

“The Cambridge store has proved a massive success therefore we are looking to replicate this in similar areas [in the UK],” a Jamaica Blue spokeswoman told British Baker.

“These [affluent] areas will be targeted because we feel they have the most potential for a Jamaica Blue store to grow and to offer something new to an existing dining mix... In the future we hope to widen our menu to offer our customers even more choice by adding a selection of pot pies, fritters, pasta dishes, soup, burgers, pancakes and fish cakes.”

Lisa Brook, Foodco UK general manager, added: “There’s lots of exciting opportunities coming up for us next year. Our aim is that, one day, Jamaica Blue will become as recognised in the UK as it is in Australia.”